French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have called for urgent European consultations on the escalating crisis.

EU diplomats will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss their response. Some have already suggested that European aid to Egypt should be frozen.

EU foreign policy envoy Catherine Ashton said responsibility for the crisis "weighs heavily on the interim government, as well as on the wider political leadership in the country".

Turkey has described Wednesday's events as a "massacre" and recalled its ambassador to Cairo "to discuss the latest developments". In retaliation, Cairo has cancelled naval exercises with Turkey.

US Republican Senator John McCain told BBC Newsnight that the ousting of President Morsi had been a "coup" and President Obama should have cut off aid to Egypt as a result.

The US has so far been careful not to use the word coup as under US law this would mean stopping aid.

But some other nations support the interim government's actions.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah issued a statement saying: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its people and government stood and stands by today with its brothers in Egypt against terrorism."

Wednesday's violence began when armoured bulldozers moved into the two Cairo protest camps.

The smaller of the two camps, at Nahda Square, was cleared quickly but clashes raged for several hours in and around the main encampment near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. The mosque was badly damaged by fire.

Egyptian interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi said the authorities had to restore security.

Mr Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, is in custody accused of murder over a 2011 jailbreak. His period of detention was extended by 30 days on Thursday, state media said.

Correction 30 August 2013: The caption on the sixth image in the picture gallery has been changed as it is unclear whether the gunman was a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood as originally stated.